Government's Big Push to Cut Diversity Initiatives Creates Big Mess

Let's start with a big move by the government. They are removing all references to "diversity, " "equity, " and "inclusion" across federal agencies. This includes even the most basic employee manuals. Take the Internal Revenue Service’s procedural handbook for employees, for example. The terms were removed and it's not just the big DEI programs. One section that was still deleted as of Wednesday morning mentioned the potential “inequity” of holding on to a taxpayer’s money and described the potential “inclusion” of a taxpayer identification number on a form. Get this, the webpages that used to have these information are now gone. They show a “page not found” message. It is no secret that Trump's administration is behind this. They want to end any DEI-related initiatives and cancel contracts that promote these ideas. It is a controversial move. They encouraged employees to rat out their colleagues who were clandestinely working on diversity issues. They even set up a tip line that has been spammed by internet users with jokes and explicit content. Trump went further after a mid-air plane crash this week, suggesting without evidence that DEI was to blame.

Now, let's talk about the change in government efficiency. The "department of government efficiency" (Doge), Elon Musk’s extra-governmental agency, has been posting on X about the contracts canceled and programs deleted, claiming to have terminated about $1bn in DEI-related contracts across government agencies. Trump officials are still trying to find more people to fire whose work related to DEI. They believe there are more than they’ve initially found. It is clear that the Trump administration had expected the number to be larger. They are not happy with the results they have gotten so far. This is a big push by the government to cut diversity initiatives. It is a big mess.

Actions